Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
A fierce battle is brewing in Parliament over a proposed $350 million tax waiver for 41 companies operating under the One-District, One-Factory program.
The Minority Caucus, led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has vowed to block the consideration of the tax exemptions, citing serious fiscal implications for the incoming government.
According to the Minority, granting tax waivers to well-endowed businesses with financial muscles would impose a tax burden on the Ghanaian taxpayer and saddle the next government with huge revenue losses.
“We have already made our position on the tax exemption clear,” said Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu.
“Why is the Majority Leader still putting it in the business statement and wanting us to work on these matters which are so unpopular?”
Ato Forson, Minority Leader, argued that the NPP government, which has been roundly rejected at the polls, has no business committing the next government to such huge expenditures.
“It is very wrong for a government that is leaving office in three weeks to commit that amount of expenditure,” Dr. Forson said.
“Mr. Speaker, if it is extremely important for the state, allow the new government to commit them.”
He added that the tax exemptions, if approved, would put a fiscal burden on the next budget.
“So, you are saying that the next government should carry your burden of $350 million? Mr. Speaker, no way, as this is not going to happen.”
Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Majority Leader, had presented the business statement for the seventh meeting of the eighth Parliament, which included the consideration of the tax waivers.
However, Ato Forson countered that the NPP government has no mandate to commit the next government to such huge expenditures, especially given the current economic situation.
Citing a precedent, Forson quoted the former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who had argued in 2016 that the then NDC government could not take a loan for the Damongo multipurpose irrigation project because it would commit the next government.
“I brought the Damongo water project before Parliament, but they (Majority) said to us that you cannot commit the next government,”
He said. “So, Mr. Speaker, issues that will commit this country as long as our budget is concerned, let us leave it for the next administration to handle.”
The parliamentary showdown has raised questions about the fate of the 2025 budget and how the new government will fund its operations.
With the House set to dissolve on January 6, the clock is ticking for the NPP government to push through its legislative agenda.
However, the Minority has made it clear that it will resist any attempts to burden the next government with unsustainable expenditures.
-BY Daniel Bampoe